Man's Hepatitis A infection may be first in county linked to frozen berries

This handout image provided by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shows the label of Townsend Farms of Fairview, Ore., Organic Antioxidant Blend, packaged under the Townsend Farms label at Costco and under the Harris Teeter brand at those stores. The Oregon company is recalling a frozen berry mix sold to Costco and Harris Teeter stores after the product was linked to at least 34 hepatitis A illnesses in five states. (AP/FDA)

A 40-year-old man from east Ventura County has become infected with hepatitis A, the first local case of foodborne illness possibly connected to frozen berries and pomegranate seeds.

The man is part of a growing outbreak that has sickened about 50 people in seven states including California, the state Department of Public Health announced Wednesday.

According to the health department, the man bought the Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend of frozen berries at a Los Angeles Costco store and used the berries in a smoothie. He has been sick for about two weeks but has not required hospitalization, the agency said.

The frozen berries had been sold in Costco stores, including in Oxnard and Simi Valley, since February. Harris Teeter supermarkets in the Midwest and on the East Coast also sold the product. Both retailers pulled it from the shelves late last week when the first infections were reported.

The Ventura County Health Care Agency said it thinks that about 400 packages of the berry mixture were sold to Ventura County residents in the three weeks before it was removed.

Health officials have warned people to avoid eating the product and throw out any purchased. If the berries have been cooked or baked, the virus will have been inactivated and will not cause sickness, the agency said.

Seven people in the state — from Ventura, Humboldt, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties — have eaten the berries and contracted the virus, the agency said.

Hepatitis A is a reportable disease in the county because it can be transmitted to others, said Dr. Robert Levin, the county public health officer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people showing symptoms of infection — yellow eyes or skin, abdominal pain, pale stools and dark urine — should contact a doctor immediately.